Muddy lanes, broken drains, and dry taps -- visuals that greet a visitor in Dehri village, located just 40 km from Bihar’s capital, Patna. Children play in stagnant water while women walk long distances, balancing pots on their heads. Once envisioned as a model of social upliftment for hundreds of Mahadalit families, the village was promised a new dawn nearly two decades ago. But 18 years on, that promise appears buried in a mire of neglect.
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In 2007, the then Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government introduced the Mahadalit category, a new social grouping aimed at uplifting Bihar’s most marginalised Dalit su
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